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Xanadu (Olivia Newton-John and Electric Light Orchestra song)
"Xanadu" is the title song from the album Xanadu, the soundtrack to the 1980 film of the same name. Collaboration[edit source | editbeta] The song is performed by the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) and Olivia Newton-John. Newton-John sings the primary vocals, with ELO (Jeff Lynne) adding "parenthetic" vocals in the style of their other songs on the Xanadu soundtrack, along with providing the instrumentation. A rare collaboration for ELO, the single reached no.1 in several countries and was the band's only UK number 1 single[2] when it peaked there for two weeks in July 1980. The song peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.[3] This was the first song beginning with the letter 'X' to ever chart on the Billboard Hot 100 and it remained the only one until 2010's "X" by Xzibit. Charts * Personnel Olivia Newton-John - Vocals *Jeff Lynne - Guitar, Keyboards, backing vocals *Bev Bevan - Drums, percussion *Richard Tandy - Keyboards *Kelly Groucutt - Bass, backing vocals *Louis Clark - Strings Kirsty K. version[edit source | editbeta] In early 1996, two Australian dance performers released versions of the song. Sydney singer Olivia Featuring Paula (on the MDS label) released a dance version first, followed by Kirsty K. (on Central Station Records). Both versions charted on the ARIA Singles and Dance Charts in the first half on 1996.[citation needed] Chart performance (Kirsty K. version)[edit source | editbeta] New Electric Light Orchestra version[edit source | editbeta] In 2000, ELO's Jeff Lynne re-recorded the song, with his own vocals, for the box set Flashback and the All Over the World compilation. Though it was billed as an ELO selection, the song was recorded entirely by Lynne himself, with no input from his former bandmates. Sharleen Spiteri version[edit source | editbeta] |} In 2009, Scottish singer-songwriter Sharleen Spiteri recorded the song for a second studio album titled The Movie Songbook which was released on March 1, 2010 worldwide. Xanadu was released as the lead single from the album in February 2010 and has so far made the BBC Radio 2 C-List.[21] Music video[edit source | editbeta] A Music video for the song was added to Spiteri's official YouTube channel in February 2010. The video shows the Capitol Records Building and Spiteri performing the song with an acoustic guitar and one male and two female back up singers. Chart performance[edit source | editbeta] Other cover versions[edit source | editbeta] Karin Glenmark recorded the song in Swedish, with lyrics by Ingela "Pling" Forsman, and released it as a single in 1980.[23] Her version chartered at Svensktoppen for 10 weeks between 26 October-21 December 1980.[24] 1980 also saw the release of Swedish language-recordings by Ingmar Nordströms.,[25] Flamingokvintetten [26]and Wizex.[27] The song appeared on the first episode of the fourth season of the American adult animated sitcom American Dad! "The Vacation Goo" wherein the alien character Roger performed "Xanadu on a cruise ship as he is impersonating Olivia Newton-John. Category:1980 singles